Queue-based head-end advertisement scheduling method and apparatus

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for scheduling and inserting advertisements into a plurality of presentation channels in a communications network in which the presentation channels contain the same programming, but different advertisements. A single programming channel is split into a plurality of presentation channels. Different advertisements are inserted into the different presentation channels. The advertisements to be inserted into advertising avails are they are detected are determined by utilizing queues stored in memory corresponding to each presentation channel. Each queue comprises an ordered list of advertisement resource locators (ARLs), in which the order dictates which advertisement is to be inserted in the next advertising avail and in which the ARLs indicate at least the location from which the advertisement can be retrieved.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/412,750 (now U.S. Pat. No. 9,232,252), entitled Queue-Based Head-EndAdvertisement Scheduling Method and Apparatus, filed Apr. 27, 2006,which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/742,534(now U.S. Pat. No. 7,039,932), entitled Queue-Based Head-EndAdvertisement Scheduling Method and Apparatus, filed Dec. 21, 2000, thedisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/229,156, entitled Method and System for Addressableand Program Independent Advertising, filed Aug. 31, 2000, the entiredisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention pertains to advertising. More particularly, the inventionpertains to targeted advertising in television programming or othermedia delivery systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As used herein, the term “television service delivery system” refers toany method and/or apparatus for delivering television programming toviewers, including, but not limited to, digital broadcast satellite(DBS), analog cable networks, digital cable networks, switched digitalvideo (SDV) networks delivered via a telephone connection, andland-based radio frequency antenna broadcast.

The various modes of delivering television service, including thosementioned above, are herein termed “transport mechanisms” or “transportstreams”. The term “television service provider” refers to an entitythat provide television service delivery systems, e.g., a local cabletelevision company in the case of analog or digital cable. The term“subscriber” refers to any individual, household or other entity thatreceives television service from a television service provider. Inalmost all television service delivery systems other than land-basedantenna broadcasts, the subscriber actually enters into a servicecontract with the television service provider in order to subscribe tothe television service. In land-based antenna television service, anyonewith a television in the geographic area reached by the broadcaster canreceive the television service without any contract with thebroadcaster. Nevertheless, in this specification, the term “subscriber”is intended to include such entities. The term head-end refers to thenode of the network or other television service delivery system fromwhich television programming is transmitted to the receiving nodes,i.e., to the subscriber nodes.

Television service delivery systems typically deliver a plurality ofchannels of television programming to subscribers. The subscribers,through channel selection via a set-top box (STB) or through the tunerof the television itself, select one or more of those channels to viewat any given time. Traditionally, television service providers transmitthe same data on each channel to all of its subscribers. Specifically,each programming channel contains the exact same content, includingadvertisements, for all subscribers.

Many television service delivery systems, including analog cable,digital cable, DBS and SDV employ STBs that the subscriber must couplebetween the incoming signal (e.g., the cable, antenna or telephone line)and his or her television set(s). These STBs can provide substantiallyenhanced functionality to the television service provider as well as thesubscriber. For instance, the STBs can be programmed to either allow ornot allow the subscriber to view certain programming channels. As iswell known to any cable television subscriber, certain channels areconsidered premium channels and cost extra to receive. Thus, if a personselects to receive certain premium channels, the subscriber's STB isprogrammed to de-scramble those channels (if transmitted in a scrambledformat) or otherwise not block the subscriber's ability to view them.

Most television channels include both programming and advertisementsinterspersed throughout the programming. Typically, a particularadvertiser will purchase a particular “spot”, i.e., an advertisingopportunity in a particular channel at a particular time, based on thelikelihood that members of that advertiser's target audience will bewatching that particular channel at that particular time. For instance,advertisers typically have a particular demographic group of individualsthat they wish to reach with their advertising. For example, themanufacturer of a low-cost beer probably has a primary target audienceof males between the ages of 21 and 39, living in households with ahousehold annual income of less than $75,000 per year. As anotherexample, a manufacturer of laundry detergent may have a primary targetaudience of women between 19-59 years of age with no particularpreference regarding household income. As another example, amanufacturer of expensive beer may wish to have a target audiencesimilar to that of the manufacturer of low-cost beer in that itcomprises males between the ages of 21 and 39. However, thismanufacturer's target demographic audience may include a differenteconomic profile, e.g., males between the ages of 21 and 39, living inhouseholds with annual household incomes of over $60,000 per year.Another advertiser that manufactures children's toys appropriate forchildren between 5 and 10 years of age might have a target audience ofchildren between the ages of 5 and 10 and, depending upon the particulartoys, a desired annual household income range.

Factors such as time of day and the particular program that is beingbroadcast on a particular channel can be used as predictors of the typeof persons likely to be watching the television and particular channelwhen a particular advertisement is displayed. For instance, children aremore likely to be viewing television during the daytime than adults.Further, men are more likely to be watching sporting events than women.However, time of day and type of program are not perfect indicators ofthe viewing audience. For instance, Monday Night Football traditionallywould be considered a program/timeslot that would present advertiserswith a large number of male viewers between the ages of 21 and 39.However, those viewers are likely to span the entire annual householdincome range. Accordingly, a large portion of the target audiences ofboth the low-cost beer manufacturer and the premium beer manufacturercan be expected to view Monday Night Football. However, by the sametoken, both beer manufacturers will pay a premium price to advertiseduring Monday Night Football, even though a large portion of theaudience does not comprise their target audience. For instance, thepremium beer manufacturer will be reaching many men living in householdswithin a lower income range who are unlikely to purchase the premiumbeer because of its high cost. That manufacturer nevertheless pays thepremium price for that advertising spot.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide animproved method and apparatus for advertising in television and othermedia.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus for more narrowly reaching one's target audience in televisionadvertising.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method andapparatus by which advertisements can be inserted into televisionprogramming channels in a more targeted fashion than traditionaladvertising mechanisms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a method and apparatus for delivering targetedadvertising to persons who receive a media stream such as television.While the invention is particularly suitable for use in connection withtelevision service delivery systems, and particularly those utilizingSTBs or the equivalent, it can be applied to other media streams such asthe Internet, and audio-only streams that might be delivered via DBS,analog cable, digital cable or SDV.

In accordance with the invention, for each channel containing differenttelevision programming, a television service provider transmits multipleversions of that channel in which the programming is identical but theadvertisements are different. This allows television service providersto offer advertisers more targeted advertising other than simply basedon channel, time of day, and programming. For instance, a singleprogramming channel, e.g., VH1, can be duplicated four times at the headend of a television service network to create four presentationchannels. Different advertisements can be inserted into each of the fourpresentation channels with the different presentation channels deliveredto different groups of subscribers. The subscriber groups may be groupedby nodes of a cable television network with the provider delivering thedifferent presentation channels to different nodes.

Alternately, subscriber groups may be created by transmitting allpresentation channels to all subscribers, but individually programmingthe set-top boxes of the individual subscribers to pick out a particularone of the multiple presentation channels corresponding to eachprogramming channel. The set-top boxes can be programmed before beingdelivered to the subscribers or can be programmed by the provider viathe communication network after they are coupled to the network by thesubscriber.

In accordance with the invention, the television service providerinserts different advertisements into the different presentationchannels at the head end using a queue-based method and apparatus. Inaccordance with the invention, a queue of advertisement resourcelocators (ARLs) is maintained for each transmitted presentation channel.In a simple embodiment, there is one queue for each presentationchannel. The ARLs comprise information disclosing the location of acorresponding advertisement. The actual advertisements are storedelsewhere and preferably are stored in a digital format such as MPEG.They may be stored in a memory local to the head end of the televisionservice delivery system or may be stored elsewhere accessible by thehead end computer system via the television service delivery network ora separate communication network. At the simplest level, ARLsessentially comprise pointers to the actual advertisements.

ARLs are stacked in the queue in the order in which they are to beinserted into the corresponding programming channel. The avails in theprogramming channel within which the advertisements are to be insertedare determined by any reasonable means and the advertisements areinserted within those avails. For example, the television serviceprovider may be given data in advance disclosing where the avails are inthe programming channel. In other embodiments, the beginning of availsmay be indicated by a predetermined signal in the vertical blankinginterval of the video stream or by cue tones.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is an exemplary system-wide advertisement group map inaccordance with the present invention that may be stored at the head endfor transmission to the set-top boxes in order to enable the set-topboxes to formulate their own individual channel maps.

FIG. 1B is an exemplary system-wide channel map that may be stored atthe head end for transmission to the set-top boxes for purposes ofcreating their individual channel maps.

FIG. 1C is an exemplary individual channel map for a particular STB inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a logic diagram illustrating an advertisement resource locatorqueue stored in memory in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a logical representation illustrating advertisement insertioninto a plurality of presentation channels corresponding to oneprogramming channel in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a queue-based, head-end advertisementscheduling and insertion apparatus in accordance with one embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the invention, a television service provider (TSP)receives a plurality of television programming channels (e.g., ABC, NBC,CBS, FOX, UPN) containing television programming as well as spacesinterspersed within the programming for advertisements. Suchadvertisement intervals are herein termed “avails”. Some, all or none ofthe avails may be filled with advertisements as delivered to thetelevision service provider, while some all or none of the avails may beempty with the intent that the TSP insert advertisements into them. Theadvertisement insertion scheme of the present invention may be used toinsert advertisements either into only the empty avails in a programmingchannel or to replace some or all of the advertisements that are alreadyin some of the avails as delivered to the TSP.

One or more of the incoming programming channels is replicated, forexample, by an audio/video splitter circuit, to produce multipleidentical output channels. The same process is repeated for any numberof other programming channels.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, theselection of the particular presentation channel when a viewer selects aparticular programming channel is transparent to the subscriber/viewer.That is, the subscriber selects only a particular programming channel,e.g., ABC, and the set-top box picks a particular one of the multiplepresentation channels corresponding to ABC, e.g., ABC_1, ABC_2, ABC_3 orABC_4.

This can be accomplished in many ways depending on the availablebandwidth for transmitting television channels to the subscribers, theparticular transport mechanism and other factors. In one schemepreferable for high bandwidth transport mechanisms such as analog cable,digital cable and DBS, all of the presentation channels are transmittedover a high bandwidth mechanism and each of the subscribers has aset-top box or other mechanism programmed to select one of thepresentation channels corresponding to each programming channel.

A similar scheme can be employed in an SDV system with slightmodification. As is well known, in SDV systems, in which bandwidth ismuch more limited than in cable systems, typically only one or a fewchannels can be transmitted to a subscriber at any given time.Accordingly, whenever a subscriber selects a programming channel toview, a signal is sent from the subscribers STB to the head-end or to acurb side node of the network asking for the selected channel to betransmitted to the subscriber. Accordingly, in SDV systems, the schememay be essentially identical to that described above for cable networks,except that, instead of picking out the particular presentation channelcorresponding to the selected programming channel for the advertisinggroup to which that subscriber has been assigned, the STB is programmedto request the particular presentation channel from the head end. ThisSDV scheme can be implemented on commercially available SDV systemsincluding the NLevel³ platform which is manufactured and sold by NextLevel Communications.

In accordance with the invention, each subscriber is assigned to anadvertising group wherein the assigned advertising group dictates whichof the presentation channels corresponding to each programming channelthat subscriber will receive when selecting that programming channel.

One preferred method is for each subscriber to have a set-top box whichhas stored in memory a tag identifying the advertising group to which itbelongs. This tag may be programmed into the STB memory by thetelevision service provider before it is delivered to the subscriber.Alternately, the STB may be programmed to accept data assigning it to aparticular advertising group via the television service delivery systemitself. In one embodiment, one channel in the transport mechanism(preferably a low bandwidth channel) can be reserved for sendingadvertising group assignments and other instructions to the set-topboxes.

Each set-top box can be assigned a unique identification code which canbe used in conjunction with system-wide channel and advertising groupmaps received over the instruction channel to determine its advertisinggroup. An advertising group map may be generated at the head end andtransmitted over this instruction channel to all subscribers.

FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary advertising group map 101 that may bestored at the head end and transmitted via the instruction channel toall of the subscribers in an SDV television service system. The mapidentifies an advertising group 103 for every STB on the system. Eachindividual STB receives the map 101 and matches its identificationnumber to an identification number 105 in the map to determine to whichadvertising group it belongs. FIG. 1B illustrates a presentation channelmap 111 which also may be broadcast from the head end to all STBs. Asshown in FIG. 1B, the presentation channel map identifies whichpresentation channel 113 for each programming channel 115 corresponds towhich advertising group. It also identifies the information 117 neededby the STBs to tune into the particular presentation streams.

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate a presentation channel map for an SDV systemutilizing the telephone lines and very high speed digital subscriberlines (VDSL) modems. As well known in the SDV art, the unique STBidentifiers are Media Access Control Identifications (MAC_IDs) and thepresentation channel tuning information 117 comprises a virtualidentifier/virtual channel identifiers (VPI/VCIs) 117. In other systemssuch as analog cable, digital cable and DBS, the STB identifiers couldtake any reasonable form and the presentation channel information 117could be the particular frequencies to which the individual presentationchannels correspond, rather than VPI/VCI identifiers.

By correlating the data received in the advertising group map of FIG. 1Aand the presentation channel map of FIG. 1B, each individual STB cancreate an individual channel map 121 for itself as illustrated in FIG.1C.

FIG. 1C illustrates the map 121 which will be built by an STB assignedto advertising group C. The map indicates which particular VPI/VCI 123(i.e., presentation channel 125) to select when the user selects aparticular programming channel 127.

In systems which are not based on ATM but instead use analog videochannels or digital video streams (e.g. MPEG) to transport video, thechannel map will refer to a particular frequency (in the case of analogvideo) or a particular Program ID (PID) in the case of MPEG.

The particular advertising group to which each subscriber is assignedmay be chosen by the television service provider based on availableinformation about that subscriber that is relevant to the type ofadvertising most beneficial for that subscriber. Such information mayinclude publicly available probabilistic demographic and/orpsycho-graphic information based on the address of the subscriber. Forinstance, a handful of marketing firms in the United States provideinformation about fixed groups known as “clusters” for use byadvertisers in identifying members of their target audiences.“Clusters”, well known in the field of advertising, are groups ofneighborhoods in the United States having certain similarcharacteristics such as socio-economic, demographic and/orpsycho-graphic characteristics. To form clusters, these marketing firmshave examined the characteristics of all known neighborhoods in thecountry using census or other publicly available data, have selectedcertain grouping characteristics (e.g., average family income, averagefamily age, etc.) and have combined some of the neighborhoods withsimilar grouping characteristics into clusters. Examples of marketingfirms known to provide “cluster” services are Claritas Inc., with itsPRIZM™ cluster system identifiable by zip+4 codes, CACI INC., with itsAcorn™ system, and National Decision Systems, Inc., with its Vision™system.

Alternately or additionally, subscribers may simply be asked to fill outquestionnaires disclosing such information such as age and gender,ethnicity and income of the members of the household when they sign upas subscribers with the television service provider.

In one embodiment of the invention, each programming channel is splitinto the same number of presentation channels as there are advertisinggroups. However, there is no requirement that all of the programmingchannels be split into multiple presentation channels or that those thatare split into multiple presentation channels be split into the samenumber of presentation channels. In fact, there may be more advertisinggroups than presentation channels corresponding to any singleprogramming channel.

In accordance with the present invention, the schedule for insertingadvertisements into each of the presentation channels is achieved byusing a queue stored in memory. FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation ofa queue in accordance with the present invention. The queue 200 is astacked list of advertisement identifiers, hereinafter termedadvertisement resource locators (ARLs) 202. At a minimum, the ARLsindicate the location of a particular advertisement, which may be amemory address in a large volume memory local to the head end of thesystem. Alternately, the ARLs may point to a remote server on a networkto which the head end computer is coupled. For instance, theadvertisement may be stored at a remote location on the advertisersserver, to which the television service provider is coupled via anetwork. Such an embodiment is advantageous in that any changes that theadvertiser wishes to make to the advertisements, including substitutingan entirely new advertisement for an older one, can be made by theadvertiser on the advertiser's server any time before the advertisementis accessed for display, without the need for the television serviceprovider's attention.

Preferably, the ARLs also indicate other information about theadvertisement, such as the duration of the advertisement, the identityof the advertiser and the identity of the particular advertisement,which information may be useful for purposes of billing advertisers fordisplay of their advertisements.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the queue comprises a stackof ARLs in the order in which they are to be inserted into thecorresponding presentation channel. However, it will be understood bythose of skill in the related arts that the “order” of the ARLs need notnecessarily correspond to the numerical addresses of the ARLs in thequeue, but encompasses any ordering algorithm that may be used toretrieve ARLs from the queue. For instance, the ARLs may include a timetag indicating the time that the corresponding advertisement is to beinserted into the presentation channel. U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/635,542, entitled “Grouping Subscribers Based On Demographic Data”,filed on Aug. 10, 2000, assigned to the same assignee as the presentapplication and incorporated herein by reference, discloses a televisionservice delivery method and apparatus into which the present inventioncan be incorporated.

FIG. 3 illustrates dynamic substitution and insertion of advertisementsin one presentation channel in accordance with the present invention. Asshown in FIG. 3, there exists a first programming channel 901 havingprogramming segments 903, 905, 907 and a plurality of advertisementsegments (i.e., avails) 909, 911, 913, 915, 917, 919, 921, 923. Thestart of each avail is determined by any available scheme such asdetection of digital cue tones, detection of a blank picture for apredetermined duration (which usually indicates the beginning of acommercial break in television programming), or detection of apredetermined signal in the vertical blanking interval. Theaforementioned provisional application as well as U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/712,790, filed on or about Nov. 14, 2000,entitled “Queue Based Advertisement Scheduling and Sales”, incorporatedherein by reference, discuss these and other ways of determining thelocation of avails in a programming channel. Alternately, the televisionservice provider simply may have a schedule indicating the times of allupcoming avails in the programming channel.

When the beginning of an avail, e.g., avail 917, is detected orotherwise determined by the AIS in the data stream 901, the AISretrieves the appropriate advertisement (as determined by consultationof the queue) from memory 803 and inserts it into the avail 917.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a head end advertisement insertion modulein accordance with the present invention for an exemplary SDV system.FIG. 4 is merely exemplary of one particular potential embodiment of theinvention and is not limiting. An advertisement insertion subsystem(AIS) 801 coupled to an advertisement management subsystem (AMS) 805 isprovided. The AIS 801 receives one or more programming channels, e.g.,ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, UPN, and creates a plurality of presentationchannels, e.g., ABC_1, ABC_2, . . . , ABC_n, . . . , NBC_1, NBC_2, . . ., NBC_n, . . . , UPN_1, UPN_2, . . . , UPN_n, based upon instructionsreceived from the AMS 805. Each programming channel comprisesentertainment programming and one or more advertising avails withinwhich the television service provider is to insert advertisements. TheAIS 801 splits each incoming programming channel into a plurality ofpresentation channels, such as by passing the incoming programmingchannels through audio/video splitters (not shown).

The AMS 805 is coupled to a demographic database 809 and a subscriberbilling records database 807, wherein the demographic database 809 maybe one of the aforementioned commercially available databases havingdemographic information about subscribers.

The AIS 801 and the AMS 805 both are connected to a distribution network813. The AIS 801 provides the multiplicity of presentation channels tothe distribution network 813 and the AMS 805 provides instructions aboutadvertising group associations of STBs, e.g., the afore describedadvertising group maps and channel maps, via an AMS_STB interface 811.

The AMS 805 also is connected to a broadband interface 815 via a mappingsubsystem 817, wherein the mapping subsystem 817 assists in mappingdifferent channels to different programming, e.g., STB group mapping.

The broadband interface 815 is connected to one or more subscribers 825via an access network 819. In one embodiment, each subscriber 825 has anSTB for the reception of entertainment programming and advertising.

The AIS 801 is responsible for creating n presentation channels fromeach selected programming channel, each presentation channel containingtargeted advertisements corresponding to the presentation channel'sadvertising group. The AIS 801 forms the presentation channels by“replicating” the programming channel into a plurality of presentationchannels and inserting targeted advertisements into the advertisementavails in the presentation channels. In order to accomplish thistargeted advertisement insertion, the AIS 801 receives from the AMS 805instructions on which advertisements should go into which avails in eachof the presentation channels. These instructions are derived fromconsultation with the queues as previously described. The AMS 805 alsosupplies instructions to the AIS 801, with reference to matchingadvertisements to avails, based on the prior sale and scheduling ofthose avail/advertisements combinations.

The AIS 801 must report to the AMS 805 exactly which advertisements wereplayed in which avails and in which presentation channels such that thepurchaser of the advertisement/avail combination can verify that theadvertisement was successfully inserted and be billed for the completedtransaction.

The AMS 805 has direct access to subscriber records, e.g., subscriberbilling records. The subscriber billing records 807 provide the AMS 805with the information regarding subscribers necessary for determiningsubscriber profiles and for the targeting of advertisements. Forexample, in order to optimally utilize the demographic data, asubscriber's ZIP+4 information is needed, and this information isderived from the actual physical address of the subscriber stored in thesubscriber billing records 807.

To utilize the system of FIG. 4 in a switched digital video environment,a Media Access Control Identification (MAC_ID) of the STB (i.e., aunique identification of a particular STB) of each subscriber will alsobe needed. The unique MAC_ID is used by the broadband interface 815 toidentify which STB is sending or is receiving information. The MAC_ID isneeded so that the STB itself may be ‘informed’ about the relevantadvertising group. As mentioned above, in one embodiment, a single andcomplete presentation channel map will be broadcast from a broadbandterminal to many STBs. The individual STBs will compute their ownindividual channel maps based on the group to which they belong.

It is to be noted that increasing the number of presentation channelsnecessary to accomplish targeted advertising also results in anincreased number of channels (i.e., VPI/VCIs) entering and switched bythe broadband interface 815, and potentially received by the STB. Thebroadband interface 815 uses the presentation channel map such that itknows which actual presentation channel corresponds to each VPI/VCI.This map is also sent to the STBs so that the STBs can form their ownindividual channel maps according to their group, as previouslydescribed. The map between channels and VPI/VCIs is generally‘synchronized’ between the broadband interface 815 and STB such that achannel change at the STB results in the correct switching of thepresentation channel by the broadband interface 815.

As mentioned above, the presentation channel map is communicated to thebroadband interface 815 via the mapping interface 817. The AMS 805,alternately, may contain the advertising grouping information aboutsubscribers (and about their STBs).

As avails are determined in each presentation channel, the AMS 805consults the queue corresponding to that presentation channel todetermine which advertisement is to be inserted into that avail andinforms the AIS 801. The AIS retrieves the advertisement from the largevolume memory 803 and inserts it into the avail in the presentationchannel.

There are numerous ways in which the advertisements can be inserted intothe presentation channels that would be readily apparent to persons ofskill in the related arts. For instance, a digitally controlled videoswitch may simply switch the source between the presentation channel andan advertising stream (from the large volume memory 803) at thebeginnings and ends of avails. This insertion can also be accomplishedusing a number of commercially available units including those producedby the Sea Change Corporation and by nCube of Foster City, Calif.,U.S.A.

The various blocks shown in FIG. 4 may be implemented by any reasonablecircuitry, including, but not limited to, a programmed general purposecomputer, a digital signal processor, an application specific integratedcircuit, analog circuitry, a remote state machine or any combination ofthe above.

Countless alterations are possible in practicing the present invention.Depending upon a particular household, the individual advertising mapcreated for the STB may be more complex than those illustrated in FIGS.1A-1C, so that the STB selects presentation channels corresponding todifferent advertising groups depending on additional conditions such astime of day or the particular program. For instance, let us consider anexample in which advertising group C is designed to probabilisticallypresent advertisers with males between the ages of 21 and 39, whileadvertising group B is designed to probabilistically present advertiserswith females between the ages of 21 and 39. If a household comprises ahusband (who is most likely to be the viewer when the STB is tuned intoa sports channel such as ESPN) and a wife (who is more likely to be theviewer when the STB is tuned into a programming channel like LIFETIME),the individual channel map for that subscriber should be different thanfor a household comprising two men rather than a husband and wife. Thus,the channel map for the former household may select the presentationchannel corresponding to advertising group C (i.e., ESPN_C) forprogramming channel ESPN, and select the presentation channelcorresponding to advertising group B (i.e., LIFETIME_B) for programmingchannel LIFETIME. The channel map for the latter household, on the otherhand, may select the presentation channel corresponding to advertisinggroup C for both ESPN and LIFETIME.

Alternately or additionally, the individual group map may be time-of-daydependent. For instance, if it is somehow probabilistically determinedthat, for a particular subscriber household, one or more viewers withina certain demographic category are likely to view the television duringa certain time of day while individuals of a different demographiccategory view the television at a different time of day, the individualadvertising map for that STB could include time dependent criteria.

Ordinarily, the advertising groups would comprise mutually exclusivesets of subscribers. However, it is possible for some overlap ifadditional criteria as discussed above are incorporated into theindividual STB channel maps as long as the situation is avoided whereone subscriber node belongs to two different advertising groups for thesame time period and programming channel.

While the invention has hereinabove been described in connection withadvertising in television service delivery systems, it can be applied inconnection with the insertion of any data into any media streamregardless of sources as long as the information stream passes through acircuit that can perform the functions described above of theadvertisement insertion module 801. Thus, for instance, the invention isequally applicable to analog cable, regular earth-based broadcasttelevision, the Internet, or a data stream from any type of memorydevice, including compact disks, digital video disks, other opticalmedia, magnetic disks, ROM, RAM, etc.

Having thus described a few particular embodiments of the invention,various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occurto those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications andimprovements as are made obvious by this disclosure are intended to bepart of this description though not expressly stated herein, and areintended to be within the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only, andnot limiting. The invention is limited only as defined in the followingclaims and equivalents thereto.

I claim:
 1. A method of transmitting television programming andadvertisements from a head end to subscribers at a plurality ofsubscriber nodes, the method comprising: creating a plurality ofsubscriber groups, members of the subscriber groups being based on atleast one characteristic of the subscribers, the at least onecharacteristic being relevant to advertising; assigning each subscribernode to one of the plurality of subscriber groups, wherein the assigningincludes creating an advertising group map disclosing an advertisinggroup to which each subscriber belongs and transmitting the advertisinggroup map to each subscriber node; receiving at the head end at leastone programming channel of television programming; forming a pluralityof presentation channels, each presentation channel corresponding to oneof the subscriber groups, by replicating the at least one programmingchannel, each presentation channel including the programming content ofthe at least one programming channel and advertisements having anadvertising play time that corresponds to a particular avail, whereinthe advertisements replace previously scheduled advertisements withinthe particular avail having a scheduled play time equal to theadvertising play time; and transmitting each of the presentationchannels to at least one subscriber node in said subscriber groupcorresponding to said presentation channel.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein each subscriber group comprises a set of subscribers that ismutually exclusive of each other subscriber group.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the advertisements included in one of the plurality ofpresentation channels is selected from a queue of advertisementscorresponding to the assigned subscriber group of the subscriber nodethat requested the programming content.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one subscriber node includes a set top box throughwhich the request for the programming content is made.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic includes probabilisticdemographic information of the subscribers.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one characteristic is based in part on the addressof the subscribers.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least onecharacteristic is based in part on socio-economic characteristics of thesubscribers.
 8. A method of transmitting television programming andadvertising from a head end to subscribers at a plurality of subscribernodes, the method comprising the steps of: creating a plurality ofsubscriber groups, members of the subscriber groups being based on atleast one characteristic of the subscribers, the at least onecharacteristic being relevant to advertising; assigning at least onesubscriber node, of the plurality of subscriber nodes, to one of theplurality of subscriber groups; receiving at the head end at least oneprogramming channel of television programming; forming from the at leastone programming channel a plurality of presentation channels oftelevision programming identical to the at least one programmingchannel, each presentation channel corresponding to one of the pluralityof subscriber groups; storing a plurality of advertisements forinsertion into advertising avails in each of the plurality ofpresentation channels; creating, for each presentation channelcorresponding to one of the subscriber groups, a queue of one or moreadvertisements from the plurality of advertisements, wherein theadvertisements in each queue are relevant to the at least onecharacteristic of the respective subscriber group; inserting, into theadvertising avails in each of the presentation channels, one or moreadvertisements from the corresponding queue; and transmitting each ofthe presentation channels to the at least one subscriber node in thesubscriber group corresponding to the presentation channel.
 9. Themethod of claim 8 wherein each subscriber group comprises a set ofsubscribers that is mutually exclusive of each other subscriber group.10. The method of claim 9 wherein said advertisements are stored indigital form.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein said advertisements arestored in MPEG form.
 12. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least oneprogramming channel and the presentation channels are in digital format.